The effects and impacts of wind turbines on breeding birds

Juan Gallego Zamorano, Sovon (Engelstalig)

The effects and impacts of wind turbines on birds are normally studied on large birds through for example, with collision or tracking (gps) studies. However, the effect on breeding birds is less studied. Thanks to the effort of Sovon's volunteers, we could study these effects for the first time. We used data since 2012 on breeding birds to study the effect of wind turbines in the last ten years. We found a large overlap between territories of birds and wind turbines. Resulting in an impact lasting up to 1km with 40% of potential habitat is lost due to wind turbines. These results demonstrate the usefulness of the monitoring programs of Sovon to understand how birds respond to human actions.